Jacob Sander Bastian
Jacob Sander Bastian was born on March
14th, 1835 in Taarnby, Sundbyvester, Copenhagen, Denmark.
He was the fifth of eleven children. He was converted and baptized a
member of the L.D.S. Church in Denmark on January 15th,
1857. He left Copenhagen, with the intention of emigrating to Zion
on April 18th, 1857 aboard the steamer L.N. Hvidt as a
member of a company of 536 emigrating saints. He arrived in Grimsby,
England on April 21st, 1857. The following day, he
boarded a train bound for Liverpool. On the evening of April 24th,
1857, he married his first wife, Gertrude Pedersen aboard the ship
Westmoreland while at anchor in Liverpool harbor because the Lutheran
minister in his native Denmark would not wed Jacob and Gertrude
because they were Latter Day Saints. They set sail the next day for
the United States, arriving in Philadelphia, PA on May 31st,
1857, after spending 36 days at sea. While at sea, the saints spent
time studying English. They also formed a musical company and
enjoyed dancing and other innocent diversions. On June 2nd,
two days after arriving in Philadelphia, they boarded a train and
traveled via Baltimore, MD and Wheeling, WV, to Iowa City, Iowa,
where they joined the other Latter Day Saints in Iowa on June 9th,
1857. About a week later, they departed Iowa en route to the Salt
Lake Valley. Gertrude passed away on September 25th,
1857, shortly after they arrived in Salt Lake City. Jacob then
married his second wife, Johannah Marie Sander on about October 29th,
1857 in Tooele, Utah. In about 1860, he married the second of his
plural wives, Mette Marie Sanders. Finally, on February 7th,
1861, he married Kirsten (Christina) Hansen in Moroni, Sanpete
County, UT. Kirsten became the third of Jacob's plural wives, and
his fourth wife overall. Jacob and Gertrude did not have any
children, however, he was blessed with 33 children with his other
three wives. The Bastian family eventually settled in Washington,
just north of St. George, in southwestern Utah, where Jacob became a
farmer. Jacob was arrested in 1888 for practicing polygamy and spent
six months in jail. He died on April 22nd, 1924 in
Washington City, Washington County, UT.
Other Information of Note:
Jacob's grandson is Philo Farnsworth,
who invented the television.
Jacob's son-in-law, Elmer Carling, was
a member of the Utah Highway Patrol, and was one of the first
motorcycle officers in Utah.
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